Indiana Court Says Poverty Insufficient Reason To Remove Children From Home

On February 12, 2014, the Indiana Supreme Court stated that the Indiana Department of Children’s Services (DCS) is justified in placing children in foster care only when parents cannot meet the needs of their children, not when they merely have difficulty taking care of them due to poverty. The decision came in a single mother’s challenge to a DCS Child in Need of Services (CHINS) adjudication when the mother experienced financial difficulties following a medical crisis involving one of her five children. The state Supreme Court decision reversed a Court of Appeals ruling; in the decision Justice Loretta . . .